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BOULDER — Eric Weissmann, a Republican candidate for Colorado's 2nd Congressional District seat, was notified Tuesday that he did not submit enough valid petition signatures to qualify for the June 26 GOP primary election ballot.

Weissmann, however, intends to appeal the Secretary of State's Office's determination that his petitions were insufficient, said Mario Nicolais, an attorney for the candidate.

Nicolais, who'll be filing that appeal in Denver District Court, said Wednesday that “Colorado case law gives us considerable comfort that the campaign's petition submissions will be ruled substantially compliant with Colorado law.”

Boulder business investor Weissmann is vying with state Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, and Adams County Republican Tom Janich for the chance to be the GOP standard-bearer in November's 2nd Congressional District general election contest with incumbent U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder.

GOP delegates voting at a 2nd District Republican Assembly in Denver on Friday are expected to determine whether Lundberg or Janich, or both, will advance to the primary election ballot from that assembly.

Weissmann had intended to bypass the assembly and gain a primary election ballot spot through the petition process. He needed 1,000 valid signatures from registered Republican voters living in the congressional district.

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On April 2, he turned in petitions with 1,456 signatures, according to a count by Secretary of State Scott Gessler's Elections Division staff. But the Secretary of State's staff accepted only 842 of those signatures, 158 fewer than Weissmann needed to qualify for the primary.

Nicolais said the rejected signatures included many that stemmed from what he called “clerical errors” in the notarization of some of the petitions before they were submitted to the Secretary of State's Office — something he said were “small but systematic errors.” That included some petitions that the notary failed to stamp and others in which the notary wrote in the wrong name for the person who actually collected the petition signatures.

Nicolais said if the district court agrees there was “substantial compliance” with the petition law's requirements, those signatures would be enough to put Weissmann over the 1,000-signer threshold.

Weissmann, Lundberg and Janich were all scheduled to appear at a Longmont 9.12 Tea Party candidates' forum at the American Legion Hall, 315 S. Bowen St., Longmont, during a meeting set to start at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

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